What If?
by TheWonton
Summary: What if Amy and Dan had a small, powerful aid in the hunt for the 39 Clues. What if it was able to give them knowledge of what to do and what was going to happen before it happened? What if it changed the course of the race? Reading the Books contest!R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**What if?**

**A/N- I'm sorry if this seems short, but it's a prologue and I felt like writing it this way. The future chapters will be longer. Please read and review! =D**

It all started out that faithful day. Grace Cahill was dead. Her beloved grandchildren Amy and Dan were going to her funeral with their spiteful aunt who had adopted them after the death of their parents. Amy was crying. Dan was eating potato chips.

"Dan, can you please stop eating chips?" asked Amy who was a bit annoyed that Dan seemed so care free.

"I'm sorry," said Dan. "But if I eat now, then I won't get hungry during the funeral."

"Well we don't need you running to get food during the funeral, so I guess you can finish the chips," sighed Amy.

Soon the car arrived at Grace's mansion. Dan and Amy groaned when they saw who was also present at the funeral. It was their pompous, rich, ungrateful relatives, the Kabra (or Cobra as Dan and Amy commonly referred to them as) siblings, Ian and Natalie. They were both dressed in the fanciest outfits that money could buy. These clothes were far superior to the ones that Amy and Dan were wearing.

"Well, look who managed to show up in at least half-decent attire," said Ian in his silky British accent.

"T-th-these are the b-best clothe-,"

"Yes, yes, the best rags that you two own," Natalie interrupted Amy's stuttering.

"You leave us alone!" roared Dan who was furious at being insulted.

"Come, Natalie, let us go," purred Ian as he began to walk away. "They're not worth our time."

"Oohh, I hate those two," said Dan angrily.

"Don't worry about them," replied Amy. "After all we rarely see them at all."

In a short while, the funeral began. Toward the end of it, a surprising announcement was made. There was going to be a race to find thirty-nine clues. Any family group could choose to join the contest with a goal of winning supreme power. If participation was not chosen, the family could walk away with $1,000,000 dollars for each family member. The guests were given a few minutes to think about it, and then they were required to answer.

"What should we do?" Dan asked Amy.

"I think that we should join the hunt," replied Amy. "We have nothing to lose from it. Besides, seeing the world would be nice."

Soon all the family groups that wanted to participate in the hunt were ready to receive instructions on what to do. The families were the Holt bodybuilding family, the older Alistair Oh, the Starling triplets, a lady named Irina Sparsky, Amy and Dan, and unfortunately, the Kabras.

Right after receiving instructions, the various groups headed out to start the hunt. Amy and Dan were at a loss for what to do next. They needed an adult to go with them and their Aunt Beatrice had already stormed off after they turned down the million dollars. Besides, she wouldn't go with them anyway. While they were wondering what to do, a man dressed entirely in black walked out of the woods and handed large brown envelope to Amy.

"Grace wanted you to have this," he said. "It will help you greatly in the race. Do not lose it, for you shall receive no replacement. Do not let your relatives gain possession of it, or else this will be the key to their victory. With this gift and others to come, you can win this hunt." With that the man disappeared into the woods.

"I wonder what it is," pondered Dan.

Amy opened the envelope to discover a book inside. On the cover of the book, it said _The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones._

**A/N- I hope you enjoyed the prologue. It may seem a bit repetitive as to what has been read in the first of the books, but twists and turns are coming. I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can. **


	2. Chapter 2

**What if?**

**A/N- Here is the next chapter of my story. I hope you enjoy! :D**

"Oh, my gosh," Amy said an extremely hushed whisper as she flipped through the first few chapters of the book entitled _The Maze of Bones._ This book is a story of what we've just been through and what is going to happen later. It includes the trip here, the funeral, and even the beginning of the contest."

"Let me see!" cried Dan as he grabbed for the book.

Amy held it just out of his reach. "Dan," she breathed, "the book tells about Grace's death.'

Dan, now even more eager to see the book, made a wild jump for it and grabbed at it. His fingers found their target and Dan snatched the book from Amy, "haha!" he cried victoriously.

"Dan, give that back," said Amy through clenched teeth. This surprised Amy, however, because she rarely got mad.

Also, taken aback at Amy's anger, Dan turned the book over, "here you go, Amy," he said quietly.

"Sorry, for lashing out like that," said Amy "it's just that this seemed like a way to know more about Grace. I miss her so much, Dan."

"I understand, Amy," replied Dan, "I miss her too."

"Dan," Amy nearly shouted, we have to go to Grace's library.

"Why?" asked Dan. Dan had never liked libraries.

"In this book, we go the library where we are supposed to find an almanac by a man name Richard S. who is Benjamin Franklin! Here, look," said Amy showing the book to Dan.

"Cool," Dan explained, "Saladin is going to be down there!" Saladin was Grace's Cat.

"Dan, don't you how amazing it would be to see an almanac by Benjamin Franklin?" asked Amy.

"Yeah, I guess, but I also want to see Saladin.

With that, Amy and Dan turned to go to the library. On the way inside, they discussed how the book could come in to play in the race.

Once they reached the library, Amy instantly started browsing through the shelves and shelves of books. She was thrilled to be in such a remarkable library. Dan was bored and he just sad down and didn't do much except flip through _The Maze of Bones._

At the library, they found their uncle Alistair Oh. He seemed to care for the Cahills and they trusted him.

Soon, Amy came across the almanac that they were searching for. As she was getting ready to show it to Dan, he rushed up to her and said, "Amy, we have to get out of here now."

"Why, Dan? We have only been here for a short while."

"Soon, this mansion is going to be set on fire and if we don't get out of here now, we are going to have a very difficult time getting out later. The book says so."

"B-bu-but Grace's m-mansion c-ca-can't burn d-do-down. It j-just can't." whispered Amy.

"Amy, I feel the same way you do, but our lives are more important that this mansion. Besides, we have to win the race for the clues. It's what Grace would want us to do."

"Ok, but let me at least get one thing to remember her by," replied Amy. With that she ran to where Grace kept her Jewelry. She started searching for the one item that she treasured the most. _There it is_, she thought. It was Grace's jade necklace.

Amy quickly headed back to the library where Dan was. "Come on, Dan. We have to go now." Dan grabbed the 39 Clues book, Amy grabbed the almanac and they both ran out of the mansion.

"Dan, does the book say when the mansion will burn down?" asked Amy.

"Not exactly," replied Dan, "it just said that the mansion burns down as we are looking for Benny Boy's almanac."

"Dan, his name was Benjamin Franklin not Benny Boy."

"Oh, no!" Dan suddenly cried. "I forgot Saladin!"

"Dan, stop," yelled Amy as Dan ran back into the mansion.

"No, I have to get Saladin!" Dan shouted back.

Amy watched helplessly as Dan ran back in to the mansion. Shortly after Dan entered the mansion, it burst into flames!

"Dan!" Amy screamed as the mansion burned in front of her.

**A/N- I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter will be up as soon as I have time! Thank for reading and as always, review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**What if?**

**A/N- I feel inspired to write more and quicker than before, so here is the next chapter. It's sooner than I expected. Also, I know some of the storyline doesn't go exactly as it did in the book, but I didn't want to basically rewrite the book, so I changed a few things. As always, I own nothing.**

The mansion was lit with a bright orange-red glow from the fire and Dan was in it. Amy started running back to the mansion. As she reached it, Dan burst out of a window with Saladin in his arms. His suit was singed and torn and if Ian had seen it, the Dan would have never heard the end of how _disgraceful_ he looked.

"Dan!" Amy cried, "You dweeb! Why did you go back into the mansion? You could have been killed!"

"Saladin _would _have been killed if I didn't get him!" cried Dan.

"Well, I know you care for Saladin, but your life is more important than his," replied Amy.

"I guess," said Dan, "but now you have both of us, so let's go."

"We need someone to take us," said Amy, "and I know that Beatrice won't take us…"

Then the idea hit them like a train hitting Kurt (who neither of them know about yet) "Nellie!" they both exclaimed.

Nellie Gomez was their Au Pair. She was the Cahill's favorite Au Pair so far and the best thing was that she hadn't been fired yet!

"I'm sure Nellie would take us!" cried Dan.

"Yeah," said Amy, "plus she has mentioned that she wants to see the world and I bet this hunt will takes us all around the world."

They hailed a taxi cab to take them home. They barely had enough money to pay the fare. It would cost them five dollars to get to their house. Amy had three dollars and fifty cents in her pocket and Dan found a dollar and twenty-three cents in his shoe. The taxi driver was kind and gave them the remaining twenty-seven cents that they needed.

Once they got home, the found Nellie lying on the couch listening to her iPod and texting on her phone. Amy told her that they had a new job for her. It was a high paying job that would take them on a trip that the Cahill family took. They said that this trip might include traveling the world, exotic food, and guys. Nellie instantly liked the idea, so she called her dad to let him know she would be gone for a while and after a short, fiery, Spanish argument she said that he was ok with it.

"Dan," Amy said, "I just remembered that we don't have the almanac. Alistair must have taken it!"

"Urgh!" was all that Dan replied.

"Well I guess we had better go pack," said Amy, "we can worry about the almanac later."

Amy and Dan rushed to pack. Amy quickly decided that all that was necessary was clothes, changes of clothes, and her passport. Soon, she was packed. Dan, however, couldn't decide what to bring. He ended up bringing a few clothes, his laptop, a picture of his parents, his inhaler, and his passport.

"Dan, are you ready to go?" asked Amy.

"Yeah," said Dan, lugging his duffle bag, "but Amy, how are we going to get money to travel?"

Amy held up Grace's jewelry box.

Dan realized what she meant. "Will it get us enough money?" he asked.

"I hope so," replied Amy as she fingered the jade necklace.

"Are you going to sell that too?" asked Dan already knowing the answer.

"I can't," Amy replied softly, "it's the only thing that I have to remind me of Grace."

Dan knew that the necklace was worth a lot and if Amy wasn't going to sell it, they wouldn't get as much money. He quickly decided to sell his collection of sports cards and coins. "Amy, I'm to sell my coins and my cards for some more money."

"Dan, you've spent so much time collecting them. Are you sure you want to sell them?"

"Yes, we need the money."

"Well I guess we do," said Amy, "tomorrow we leave for Philadelphia."

"Why?" asked Dan.

"I just remembered that there was a note from Mom in the almanac. It said something about following Franklin," said Amy, "after Ben turned 17 he left Boston, and went to Philadelphia. That's exactly what we're going to do to, follow Franklin."

**A/N- The dividers won't show up, so this is working as my divider.**

In the mean time, at Copley Square, Irina Spasky was meeting up with Ian and Natalie Kabra. The topic of this meeting, however, was not a normal Lucian topic. At this meeting, Irian and the Kabras were discussing the Cahill children.

"It's nice to see you, Irina," Natalie said, keeping her friendly cover.

"Oh, yes, you too," replied Irina in an unnaturally sweet voice.

Throughout the brief meeting, the whereabouts of the next clue, Ben Franklin, and the Cahills were all intermingled in the discussion.

Soon, the meeting was over, for it would be dangerous to extend its length any longer.

As they were departing, Irina noticed that Natalie had a small silver dart gun concealed within her sleeve.

"It was nice to see you, Irina," said Natalie with the dart gun pointed at Irina.

"Yes," added Ian, "I would shake your hand but I would hate to ruin that lovely manicure of yours. Irina had poison needles hidden within her fingernails, "just make sure that you let us know when the Cahills are eliminated."

**A/N- DIVIDER DIVIDER DIVIDER**

At the car rental building, Nellie came out with the car keys and a large brown envelope that was addressed to Amy and Dan from Mr. McIntyre.

Amy opened it while Dan watched from over her shoulder. Inside was a note that said, _Meet me at Independence Hall this evening at eight, but only if you find the information. –W.M._

**A/N- Thanks for reading this chapter! The note was copied from the book and I take no credit for the author, Rick Riordan's work. I'll get the next chapter up soon! Check out my new forum called 39 Clues Character Discussion. All the posts are a few days old, because I published it but forgot to categorize it under 39 Clues. Thanks and as always, review! =D **


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